If ever there was a year to allow trading draft picks, this would have been the one.

Last week, I unveiled my top 50 prospects for the MLB Draft, and in my opening paragraph I alluded to this being one of the poorer draft classes (particularly at the top) since the turn of the century. That top became even thinner with the news that Brady Aiken had Tommy John surgery about two hours after the list went up, and now becomes even weaker with today’s news that Mike Matuella will also undergo Tommy John surgery.

What this means for Matuella: Let’s be clear—TJ might have a stronger recovery rate than some other invasive surgeries, but it’s still an invasive procedure with a nonzero failure rate, so this isn’t good news. As weird as it is to say about a college junior compared to a guy who was in high school at this point last year, Matuella doesn’t have a track record as strong or as long as Aiken does, as his “dominant” showings came just last spring. The Duke right-hander also suffers from spondylosis; a treatable—but degenerating—back disease, and as a taller pitcher those back issues are likely to cause just as much—if not more—concern as his elbow ligament.

The rest of this article is restricted to Baseball Prospectus Subscribers.

Not a subscriber?

Click here for more information on Baseball Prospectus subscriptions or use the buttons to the right to subscribe and get access to the best baseball content on the web.

How the Phillies stopped drafting risky athletes in favor of high-floor baseball skills.

Every day until Opening Day, Baseball Prospectus authors will preview two teams—one from the AL, one from the NL—identifying strategies those teams employ to gain an advantage. Today: the drafting philosophies of the Phillies and Blue Jays.

A first look at the top 50 names to keep an eye on for this June's amateur draft.

To put it bluntly, this is not a very strong draft class, at least not on paper. The same problems that have plagued the last few classes—such as the lack of quality collegiate bats and depth up the middle—are here. But compounding the issues is that there isn’t the glut of prep pitching prospects that we’ve had in the previous editions of this decade, and there are a plethora of injury question marks here, particularly with the college arms.

With all of that being said, the barrel isn’t empty, and there is some upper-echelon talent to be found here, particularly in the southern part of the country. Despite the injury concerns college pitching—again—dominates the top of the class, and there are some prep bats here that have a chance to be all-stars if everything breaks right. Even the weakest class will give your team a chance to substantially improve its system, and 2015 isn’t an exception.

The attention paid to Kris Bryant's service time foreshadows the major issues facing owners and players in the next CBA negotiations.

As with the old axioms about offensive linemen, umpires and prophylactics, when CBA rules are working properly you never hear about them. Yet here we are, with Kris Bryant’s predicament perhaps the major story of spring training: The Cubs can’t bring him north without burning a year of club control (in 2021), and they can’t send him to Triple-A Iowa without incurring the wrath of Baseball Twitter’s moral majority. It’s a conundrum many teams have faced over the past few years, some in March (to potentially push back free agents), others in May and June (to stall arbitration raises by a year). Each creates a legitimate dilemma, and there’s no wrong answer, given the needlessly complicated rules in place. Which is the point: We’re talking about this because the rules have broken down.

How simply pursuing the best player available in the draft has created one of the league's best rosters.

Every day until Opening Day, Baseball Prospectus authors will preview two teams—one from the AL, one from the NL—identifying strategies those teams employ to gain an advantage. Today: the winningest teams of the past four years and PECOTA-projected division titlists Nationals and Tigers.

No matter the year or the strength of the class, volatility will always play a significant part in scouting the MLB draft. It’s only natural for 18 to 22-year-old players to go experience significant highs and lows over their respective seasons, and it’s why so many players who start the year near the top of the draft boards end up seeing their stock diminish, and vice versa.

“It’s just a natural part of the process,” an NL Central front-office member said. “You always start your year with a certain idea of how you think things are going to break down, but there are always those handful of prospects that you just don’t know how things are going to end up. It drives you nuts, but it also sort of makes things fun.”

This past weekend kicked-off the start of the Division I college baseball season, and so too does Baseball Prospectus’ prospect team kick-off our coverage of the 2015 draft with the first installment of our Draft Ten Pack series. Each week we will bring you updates on some of the top names and rising talents across the amateur landscape, beginning this week with updates from college baseball’s opening weekend and some prep notes from the Sunshine State and an early-season Midwest showcase.

An agents advice for amateur players wondering when to hire an advisor.

It's February, which means things are coming on like a freight train in the baseball world. I am in the process of closing deals on all my clients' endorsements, filing my 2014 MLBPA paperwork, finalizing spring training responsibilities, and just overall getting ready for game season. I say game season because I don't actually get to experience an "off"season. No agent ever does. The closest I ever came to an offseason was the 10 days I spent in the Bahamas with my wife on my honeymoon, and even there by Day Five I had to deal with a now-former client getting arrested! A vendor who didn't know I was out of the country (and out of the loop) sent me an email: “Sorry about your guy.” I responded accordingly, then proceeded to flip out after Google confirmed the story.

If you’ve followed the draft closely over the past few years, one of the major underlying themes has been the lack of quality collegiate bats. Teams generally covet position players who can help quickly, but since the star-studded 2005 class that saw four college sluggers go in the first seven selections, top picks have seldom been used on collegiate hitters. In the past three editions just four college hitters have gone in the top 10 selections, and Kris Bryant and Mike Zunino are the only collegiate hitters who have gone in the top three since the start of the decade.

This past week my friend Bruce Seid, the Milwaukee Brewers scouting director, passed away. This is not the first time I lost a friend who was a scout. Rolando Casanova of the Detorit Tigers passed away earlier this year, as well. Bruce and Caz were both under 60 and passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. We work in show business, and death rarely creeps into our thoughts, but when it comes it hits like a sledgehammer. I want to use this column to talk about my friend and give the world a behind-the-scenes look at what a failed draft situation looks like.

Writeups on Cody Ponce, a Cape League surprise who continued to shine in the All-Star game, and other prospects.

This year’s Cape League All Star Game was interesting from both a scouting and talking point perspective. The league and managers did a great job picking the best prospects, which hasn’t always been the case in previous years. The biggest name that scouts were excited to see was Kentucky’s Kyle Cody. Cody has been brilliant for Wareham and seems to be the consensus best arm on the Cape this summer. He showed some overpowering mid-90s heat on Sunday night.

It's in the agent's interest to get the most money for his players. That's true... mostly.

When the Astros last took us back to economics class, it was for what was generally regarded as a good thing on their end. They showed how a team can use not only their leverage, but the misaligned incentives of individual players and their collective to get what appeared to be a good deal for Jon Singleton. (Whether or not Singleton’s .179/.263/.340 start with a 37 percent strikeout rate changes your opinion of the deal now, the economics do not change.)

Now somehow, a month later, we’re back. It’s probably not a coincidence that it’s the Astros again. This is what they do. From the first pick of baseball’s new amateur economy, this is what they’ve done. They play with the rules, they use their leverage, and now they’re going to be one No. 1 overall draft pick short of a trio at Camp Kissimmee next year.